Signaling device for mailboxes



y 10, 1949- L. c. JASKALA 2,469,558

SIGNALING DEVICE FOR MAILBOXES Filed Dec. 15, 1945 r L J 24. 25 IN VEN TOR.

2.3 Luv 13 JASKALA 2 a, BY

ATTQRNE Patented May 10, 1949 UNIT ED STAT ES PAT OFFICE.

2,469,558" SIGNALING DEVICE FOR MAIIJBOXES'.

Louie C. Jaskala, San Francisco,palif'. Application December 15, 1945, Serial No. 635,269

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to improvements in mail boxes and has particular reference to a novel device for indicating by a. signal. light when mail is deposited in the box.

Due to the fact that no practical method has as yet been provided for enabling people who live in apartment houses and the like to know when mail is deposited in their mail boxes, considerable inconvenience; is experienced by the persons expecting mail, requiring them to continuously inspect their mailboxes; as many of the apartments are on upper floors and a considerable distance from the mail boxes it will be obvious as to the troublesome difficulty involved.

:The principal object of the present invention is the provision of means that will automatically indicate directly in the apartment when mail is deposited in the mail box.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an elongated miniature sensitive spring lever for controlling an electric switch whereby an extremely small weight, such as a post card, will positively close the switch and cause an electric light to indicate that mail has been deposited in the mail box.

An additional object of the invention is to provide means to compensate for the placing of stacked or bulky mail in the box.

A further object is the provision of an improvement of the character described that is simple in construction, economical to manufacture, strong, durable and highly serviceable in use.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part oi this specification and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a mail box and. shows the automatic switch apparatus in dotted lines within the lower portion of the box,

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows,

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the bottom of the mail box and the switch controlling apparatus mounted thereon.

Fig. 4 is a modified view of the means employed for closing the electric switch, illustrating how miniature coil springs may be employed, and

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of an electric hook-up employed to connect the switch to the indicating light.

Referring in detail to the drawings wherein for 2 the purpose of illustration is. shown. the. preferred form of my invention, the mail box as a whole is designatedibytheJetter-A and? embodi'eszinits construction a front portion 8', a back. 1', a bottom. 8 and two sides 9" and lllrespectively. The said. sides 9 and I0 extend aboveitlie front and back.

of the box and the upper front portions of the said sides are formed inwardly at an. angle. for.

accommodating a hingedly secured lid" ll asshown in Fig. 2'. The numeral l1" designates a handle for the lid" and numeral 12 a pair of pins for holding: the: lid; in its closed position. The mail box illustrated is of. the type. that fits. on the inside of'a door, the opening t3. providing; a slot in which the mail is dropped. It is to be understood that any suitable type of mail box can be employed.

The construction provided for enabling the weight of a post card or letter to close an electric circuit for lighting an indicator light, preferably consists of an elongated switch plate l4 that is fixed to a miniature elongated flat lever spring l5 which is spaced above an insulation plate It and supported at its furthermost rear portion by a suitable spacer collar l1 and secured to said insulation plate It by a bolt and nut connection l8, l9 and 20, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The insulated plate I6 is supported above the bottom 8 of the mail box by a pair of collars 2| and is secured to said bottom by the screws 22. A pair of spaced switch contact screws 23 and 24 are projected through the front end portion of the plate It as shown in Fig. 2 and are electrically connected together by an electric conductor 25 as shown in Fig. 5.

Electrical conductors 26 lead from the screws 23 and 24 to the transformer 21. Likewise an electrical conductor 28 leads from the lever spring IE to an indicator light 29. The said electric conductors 26 and 28 can be any suitable type that will properly serve the purpose of the invention. A switch 30 is preferably provided in said circuit. The electrical conductors 3| and 32 lead to the source of electrical supply 33 from said transformer. It will be readily understood that the transformer 21 can be the conventional transformer that is provided in electrical circuits from which chimes, buzzers and other household electrical devices are operated. However, abattery can be employed to provide the source of electrical supply, in which case a transformer will not be required.

Means for guiding the mail parcels to the switch plate I4, consists in providing two bafile plates 34 and 35, as shown in Fig. 2. Said baffie plates are preferably made of thin spring metal to provide resiliency for enabling the baiiie plates to spread apart when a large quantity of mail is dropped into the box. The thin lever spring I5 is of such sensitivity that when a small weight, such as a single post card B, is dropped into the mail box and onto the switch plate M, the said switch plate will fall against the contact screws 23 and 24 which will close the electrical circuit for lighting the indicator light 29. In the event that a large quantity of mail is dropped into the box which mail would be too thick to slip between the baflle plates 34 and 35, the resilient bailie plate 35 will be lowered under the influence of the heavy mail against the spring lever I5 and will cause the switch plate I4 to contact the screws 23 and 24 and close the electrical circuit for lighting the indicator light 29.

In Fig. 4 the switch plate 23, which can be of any suitable width or length, is held in its normal position by the miniature coil springs 36 and 31. This view is shown to illustrate a modified form of the invention in which another type of resilient means can be provided to retain said switch plate 23 in its normal position.

It is to be understood that the forms of my invention herewith shown and described are to be taken as preferred examples of the same and that various changes relative to the material, size, shape and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claim.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 329,245 Weaver Oct. 27, 1885 841,168 Muschenheim Jan. 15, 1907 983,403 Schafer Feb. 7, 1911 1,019,554 Taylor Mar. 5, 1912 1,037,470 Grindle Sept. 3, 1912 1,654,643 Gennoy Jan. 3, 1928 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 55,645 Switzerland June 30, 1912 

